VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN CONTINUUM

The Violence Against Women Continuum is a tool to examine the “state” of violence against women in our culture and to point out that incidents violence against women do not happen in a vacuum. Inherent in the model are the attitude and notion that counters the beliefs that violence is normal in men, and that there is nothing we can do about violence except change the behavior of women or maybe jail the perpetrators. The continuum is used to support an approach to violence prevention that addresses societal and cultural “viewpoints” which lead to and ultimately accept violent behavior.

The continuum has the shape of a pyramid to show that violent acts displayed at the bottom happen far more frequently than those displayed at the top. Also, the pyramid illustrates that the cognitive and behavioral acts at the bottom of the pyramid serve to support the physically more harmful and ultimately lethal incidents of violence against women. In this sense, by countering, reducing, and changing negative attitudes and beliefs regarding women as well as sexism, we can eradicate the supporting basis for violent incidents displayed at the top of the pyramid, thus effectively fighting and reducing violence against women.

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